The European Union will support Ukraine with transitional financing under the Ukraine Facility program, for which Ukraine will bring the State Land Cadastre and the State Register of Real Property Rights into line, as well as approve measures to support the implementation of industrial parks as a tool for attracting investment to the de-occupied territories.
As the Economy Ministry reported on Friday, these two steps, which are necessary to receive transitional funding, are currently under development.
The Ministry of Economy noted that three other steps have already been taken: the adoption of the National Revenue Strategy for 2024-2030; amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office and to laws to strengthen the independence of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and additional measures to prevent and combat illicit proceeds and terrorist financing.
The Ministry clarified that these five indicators were envisaged in the Ukraine Facility Plan, which has been discussed with the EU all along, for the beginning of 2024.
The Ministry of Economy noted that the Cabinet of Ministers on Friday, March 8, approved the text of the Memorandum of Understanding between Ukraine and the EU on transitional financing under the Ukraine Facility program, as well as the relevant loan agreement. After the signing of the documents, scheduled for March 11, Ukraine will be able to receive EUR 6 billion to cover current state budget expenditures until the program is fully launched.
It is explained that the signing of the Memorandum will allow Ukraine to attract EUR 4.5 billion in March 2024 to maintain macro-financial stability, and the next EUR 1.5 billion in April 2024.
As reported, in February 2024, the European Parliament approved the regulations of the Ukraine Facility program. According to it, the EU’s support for Ukraine in 2024-2027 will amount to EUR 50 billion, of which EUR 38.27 billion will be allocated to support the state budget, of which Kyiv expects EUR 16 billion in 2024.
The Ukraine Facility Plan is a technical document required to implement the EU’s financial support program for Ukraine. The plan is not a general renewal strategy, it will cover only a part of the state changes envisaged for the coming years with a focus on macroeconomic growth, the Ministry of Economy points out.
The preparation of the Plan is carried out by the government under the coordination of the Ministry of Economy in constant consultation with representatives of the European Commission, which ensured that the document meets most of the requirements of the approved regulations at the preliminary preparation stage, the ministry added.
As of the end of 2023, 4 million 303.12 thousand non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, had temporary protection status in EU countries, Eurostat reports.
“Compared to the end of December 2023, the largest absolute increase in the number of beneficiaries was observed in Germany (+18,905; +1.5%), the Czech Republic (+8,155; +2.2%) and Spain (+2,830; +1.5%),” the statistical agency said.
“The number of beneficiaries decreased in 5 EU countries, namely Italy (-18,125 people; -11.2%), Poland (-3,235; -0.3%), Estonia (-225; -0.6%), France (-205; -0.3%) and Luxembourg (-10; -0.2%),” Eurostat added.
As of the end of December, the European statistical office reported a slightly higher number of refugees with temporary protection status – 4 million 312.22 thousand, but the decrease in the total figure for the month is due to a decrease in data for the Netherlands – from 145.62 thousand at the end of December to 116.86 thousand at the end of January.
Over the past ten months, the largest increase was observed in Germany – a total of more than 204 thousand people, followed by the Czech Republic – 70.7 thousand.
According to Eurostat, as of the end of January 2024, the main EU countries that received recipients of temporary protection from Ukraine were Germany (1 million 270.15 thousand people; 29.5% of the total), Poland (951.56 thousand people; 22.1%) and the Czech Republic (381.19 thousand people; 8.9%). The total share of these three countries is 60.5%.
Eurostat specifies that, compared to the population of each EU member state, the largest number of temporary protection beneficiaries per thousand people in January 2024 was observed in the Czech Republic (35.2), Bulgaria (26.7), Estonia (26.4), Lithuania (26.2) and Poland (25.9), while the corresponding figure at the EU level is 9.6.
It is also said that as of January 31, 2024, Ukrainian citizens accounted for more than 98% of the beneficiaries of temporary protection. Adult women accounted for almost half (46.1%) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU, children for slightly more than a third (33.2%), while adult men accounted for slightly more than a fifth (20.7%) of the total. Eight months earlier, the share of women was 46.6%, children 34.6% and adult men 18.8%.
According to the data presented, in January, Spain remained the fourth largest country in the EU with the status of temporary protection for refugees from Ukraine – 197.75 thousand, and Bulgaria closed the top five with 172.28 thousand.
As of the end of January 2024, there were also more than 100 thousand such persons in Romania – 147.52 thousand, Italy – 143.25 thousand, the Netherlands – 116.86 thousand, Slovakia – 116.01 thousand, and Ireland – 102.80 thousand.
Between 50 thousand and 100 thousand of them were in Austria – 83.56 thousand, Lithuania – 75.35 thousand, Belgium – 75.76 thousand, Norway – 68.15 thousand, France – 64.73 thousand (data on children are mostly not included – Eurostat), Finland – 64.95 thousand and Portugal – 59.46 thousand.
This is followed by Latvia – 44.14 thousand, Sweden – 44.39 thousand, Estonia – 35.72 thousand, Denmark – 36.64 thousand, Hungary – 34.25 thousand, Greece – 27.10 thousand, Croatia – 23.18 thousand, Cyprus – 19.53 thousand, Luxembourg – 4.22 thousand, Iceland – 3.98 thousand, Malta – 1.99 thousand and Liechtenstein – 0.57 thousand.
Eurostat clarified that all the above data relate to the granting of temporary protection on the basis of EU Council Decision 2022/382 of March 4, 2022, which establishes the existence of a massive influx of displaced persons from Ukraine due to Russia’s military invasion and entails the introduction of temporary protection.
According to updated UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of February 15 this year was estimated at 6.004 million, and 6.480 million in the world as a whole, which is 29 thousand and 30 thousand more than at the beginning of the year, respectively.
In Ukraine itself, according to the UN, as of November 6, there were 3.674 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), compared to the previous estimate of 5.088 million. “This (significant reduction) is not due to a significant return of IDPs, but rather, first of all, to a change in the methodology for calculating the number of IDPs. The new baseline population figure used to extrapolate IDP estimates now takes into account the absence of some 6.2 million refugees from Ukraine who are no longer in the country,” UNHCR explains.
As noted by Deputy Economy Minister Serhiy Sobolev in early March last year, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP. The Ministry of Economy has included in its macroeconomic forecast for this year 1.5 million people returning to Ukraine, while the National Bank, on the contrary, expects an outflow of 0.1 million from Ukraine after 0.2 million in 2023.
Eurozone GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023 was unchanged from the previous three months, according to final data from the European Union’s statistics office (Eurostat).
In annual terms, the eurozone economy grew by 0.1%.
The dynamics of both indicators coincided with the previously announced data and expectations of experts surveyed by Trading Economics. For comparison, in the third quarter, the eurozone GDP declined by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter and grew by 0.1% in annual terms.
Consumer spending in October-December rose 0.1% quarter-on-quarter, government spending rose 0.6% and business investment rose 1%. The volume of exports remained unchanged, imports – increased by 0.6%.
The eurozone economy grew by 0.4% for the whole of 2023, according to the final Eurostat data. Thus, the rate of upturn slowed significantly from 3.4% in 2022.
The European Union’s GDP in the fourth quarter was unchanged from the previous three months and grew by 0.2% in annualized terms. At the same time, the volume of the EU economy for 2023 increased by 0.4% after an increase of 3.4% a year earlier (i.e. the dynamics of both indicators coincided with changes in GDP of the euro area).
Earlier, the information and analytical center Experts Club detailed the macroeconomic situation in Ukraine and in the world – as follows
Forecast of changes in discount rate of National Bank of Ukraine, %
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Initial registrations of new buses (including minibuses) in Ukraine in February 2014 increased by 22.7% compared to February last year, to 108 units, according to statistics released by Ukravtoprom.
At the same time, the demand for buses decreased by 9.2%, or 11 vehicles, compared to January 2014.
According to the report, the Ukrainian Ataman was the market leader with 40 buses registered: in February last year, it was second with 22 vehicles. The second place went to Etalon, the leader of last February, whose registrations decreased by 14 units to 30 buses.
Citroen took the third place, just like a year earlier, with 10 buses (one more), and Volkswagen was fourth again with 9 vehicles (5 units more).
Ford rounds out the top five with eight buses registered, compared to three a year earlier. In February last year, the top five was closed by Ukrainian ZAZ, but in February of this year, these buses were not registered.
At the same time, registrations of Turkish buses in February by Temsa amounted to only 1 unit against 13 in January this year. This brand reportedly plans to significantly strengthen its position in Ukraine, particularly in the school bus segment.
Thus, in January-February 2024, the first registrations of buses in Ukraine decreased by 30.6% compared to the same period in 2023 – to 227 units.
In 2023, the total number of new bus registrations of all classes in Ukraine amounted to 1,701 units, which is 86% more than in 2022.
“In 2024, Gas TSO of Ukraine will create 167 new mobile teams to service gas distribution stations (GDS), the company’s press service reports.
According to it, the equipment maintenance and repair project is part of GTSOU’s strategy to improve the reliability and efficiency of the gas transmission system.
Currently, 43 mobile teams are working within its framework, each of which serves its own “bush” – several gas distribution stations and the adjacent linear part of gas pipelines. In 2024, the maintenance teams will service 819 GDSs.
A similar practice of gas infrastructure maintenance is used in Europe. In particular, GTSOU was guided by the experience of the Italian operator Snam, which maintains not only GDSs, but also the linear part and compressor stations in this way.
“Mobile maintenance is an efficient use of resources through the involvement of personnel in servicing, first of all, gas distribution systems. The application of this approach involves a number of measures, including a significant improvement in the condition of the gas distribution system. If the technical condition of the facility allows us to change the form of maintenance, we include it in the service area of the mobile maintenance unit,” explained Yuriy Zyabchenko, Chief Engineer of GTSOU.
To ensure that the work of mobile teams meets the standards of European operators, is automated and transparent, GTSOU requested and received technical assistance from USAID through the Energy Security Project to purchase a mobile application.
“Already in 2024, mobile teams will use the mobile application in their work as the main tool for recording information on the technical condition of equipment. This will help improve the quality of maintenance and repair of gas infrastructure and reduce the number of emergency shutdowns,” the operator reminded.
